CVS Health’s acquisition of Aetna has been approved in 23 of 28 states, putting the deal on track to close by Thanksgiving, executives said Tuesday.

CVS chief executive Larry Merlo said the remaining state approvals should occur "prior to" Thanksgiving, which is Nov. 22 this year, allowing the company to complete its merger with the nation’s third largest health insurer. The U.S. Justice Department has already given preliminary approval to the CVS-Aetna deal once Aetna's Medicare Part D prescription drug plan business is divested to WellCare Health Plans.

Merlo said New Jersey "was the very last state to have a hearing. That was yesterday." The other four states are working on their evaluations and approvals, CVS said.

Once the deal closes, CVS, which operates pharmacies, retail health clinics inside its stores and one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit management companies, will add Aetna and its medical membership totaling 22.1 million as of Sept. 30, the insurer said in reporting its third-quarter earnings last week.

In CVS' third quarter, the drugstore chain said net income rose to $1.4 billion, or $1.36 per share, up from $1.3 billion, or $1.26 per share in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 2.4%, or by $1.1 billion, to $47.3 billion in the third quarter compared to $46.2 billion in the year-ago period. The increase in sales was driven by a 6.4% increase in CVS' "retail/long-term care segment" to $20.9 billion.

I've written about health care for three decades, starting from my native Iowa where I covered the presidential campaign bus rides of Bill and Hillary Clinton through the Hawkeye state talking health reform and the economy. I have covered the rise, fall and rise again of he...